[Rank]
S. Venantii Martyris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;
9 lectiones

[Hymnus Vespera]
v. Venantius, hail! God's martyr bright,
Thy country's honour and her light;
Who didst with joy thy triumph sing,
Thy judge and tortures conquering.
_
A child in years, he heeds no pain,
Nor dungeon damp, nor galling chain;
The tender youth for food is thrown
To lions, mad with hunger grown.
_
O wondrous sight! the beasts of prey
Their food reject, and turn away;
Then tamely lick the martyr's feet,
A tribute to his virtue meet.
_
Then downwards hung, his mouth exposed
To clouds of smoke beneath disposed,
Whilst with slow torches, burning clear,
His naked breasts and sides they sear.
_
Praise to the Father, and the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
Oh! grant that through this martyr's prayer,
Your blissful joy we all may share.
Amen.

[Oratio]
O God, in Whose sight this day is holy, because thy blessed Martyr Venantius did become more than conqueror thereon, graciously hear the prayers of thy people, and grant that all who reverence his right worthy loyalty to thee, may be like him in godly endurance.
$Per Dominum

[Hymnus Matutinum]
v. Noble champion of the Lord!
Armed against idolatry!
In thy fervent zeal for God
Death had naught of fear for thee.
_
Bound with thongs, thy youthful form
Down the rugged steep they tear,
Jagged rock and rending thorn
All thy tender flesh lay bare.
_
Spent with toil, the savage crew,
Fainting, sinks with deadly thirst;
Thou the cross dost sign; and lo!
From the rock the waters burst.
_
Saintly warrior-prince! who thus
thy tormentors couldst forgive;
Pour the dew of grace on us,
Bid our fainting spirits live.
_
To thee, O Father, with the Son
And Holy Spirit, glory be;
Oh, grant us through thy martyr's prayer
The joys of immortality.
Amen.

[Lectio4]
Venantius was a lad of Camerino (in the neighbourhood of Ancona,) who at fifteen years of age was accused of Christianity before Antiochus, Praefect of Camerino under the Emperor Decius. Venantius therefore appeared before Antiochus at the gate of the city, and when the Praefect had striven with him for a long while, by promises and threats, he commanded him to be scourged and thrown into irons, but an Angel loosed his bonds. He was afterwards scarified with lamps, and hung head downwards in smoke. Anastasius the trumpeter was amazed at his hardiness under suffering, and when it appeared to him that the Martyr was a second time loosed by an Angel, and was walking in white raiment on the smoke, he believed in Christ, and was baptized, with all his house, by the blessed Priest Porphyry, and a little while after they both together earned the palm of martyrdom.

[Lectio5]
Now Venantius stood before the Praefect, and when he had again vainly tempted him to give up his faith in Christ, he cast him into prison, and sent unto him Attalus the crier. Attalus told him how that he also had been a Christian, but had denied that name, seeing it was a foolish faith which made Christians to throw away things present for a groundless hope of things to come. But Christ's brave champion, well knowing the wiles of our subtle enemy, drove the devil's servant from his presence. When he appeared again before the Praefect, his teeth and jaws were broken, and so mangled he was cast out upon a dunghill. But thence also an Angel delivered him, and he stood again before the judge. And there while Venantius was yet speaking, the judge fell from off the judgment-seat, and when he had cried with a loud voice, "Venantius, his God is true, take away our gods," he died.

[Lectio6]
Then they told the President of it, he commanded Venantius to be straightway thrown to the lions. But the beasts were not wild to him, and lay down at his feet. And meanwhile he taught the Christian faith to the people. So they took him away from thence and cast him once more into prison. The next day Porphyry came to the President, and told him how that he had seen in a vision of the night Venantius sprinkling certain ones with water, and they that were sprinkled shone with a marvellous light, and the President himself hidden in deep darkness. Then the President was moved to great anger and commanded forthwith to behead Porphyry. As for Venantius, he bade them drag him about in rough places, full of briars and thistles, until the evening. When it was over, he was left half dead, but in the morning he stood for the last time before the President, who commanded to cast him down from a steep rock. It pleased God that this should not kill him, and he was haled again through rough places for about a mile. There the soldiers were athirst, and Venantius, by the sign of the Cross, made waters to flow from a stone in a gulley hard by. This is that stone whereon also he left the imprint of his knees, and which can be seen to this day in his Church. By this wonder many were moved to believe in Christ and the President commanded them all, and Venantius with them, to be beheaded in the same place where they were. When it was done there were great lightnings and earthquakes, so that the President fled, but he could not fly from the judgment of God, and but a few days thereafter he died a most shameful death. Meanwhile the Christians took the bodies of Venantius and the others, and buried them in an honourable place, wherein they lie to this day, under the Church at Camerino which is dedicated to Venantius.

[Hymnus Laudes]
v. The golden star of morn
Is climbing in the sky;
The birthday of Venantius
Awakes the Church to joy.
_
His native land in depths
Of pagan darkness lay;
He o'er her guilty regions poured
The light of heavenly day.
_
Her in baptismal streams
Of grace he purified;
E'en those who came to take his life,
With him as martyrs died.
_
With the angels now he shares
Those joys which never cease;
Look down on us, O Spirit blest,
And send us gifts of peace.
_
Praise to the Father, Son,
And, Holy Ghost, to thee,
Oh, grant us through thy martyr's prayer
A blest eternity.

[Lectio94]
At the age of fifteen, Venantius of Camerino was denounced for his Christian religion to Antiochus, who was Prefect of Camerino under the Emperor Decius. Venantius presented himself to the prefect at the city gates. For a long time the prefect tempted him by means of promises and threats, then commanded that he be beaten and chained. Miraculously freed by an angel, Venantius was then burned with torches and suspended face down over a smoking fire. Led back again to the governor, he had all his teeth and jaws broken and, thus mutilated, he was thrown into a pit of dung. Rescued from this pit by an Angel, he stood once more before the judge, who, even as Venantius was speaking to him, fell from his tribunal, crying out, “Venantius, his God is true, take away our gods!” and expired. At length, after new and exquisite torments, Venantius was beheaded, along with ten others, and so finished the course of his glorious struggle. The Christians gave honourable burial to the bodies of these martyrs, who now rest in Camerino, in the church dedicated to Venantius.
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